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Monday, May 28, 2012

If you are wondering how Job manages to move around without any legs, here's a little peek under his ragged sack...

The man is basically kept alive by his Anti-Gravity Chasis. The Chasis also works as a power source for the rest of the little machines plugged into his spine and viscerals by Adeptus Mechanicus many decades ago.

This is what Punk Moth is all about - extra detailed backgrounds which are more or less obscure...

Friday, May 25, 2012

"Do not start with me, old man. The witty mind you posses tries ones best to guide me, but in most cases it is as much needed as are pair of boots for you."

- Inquisitor Cassar

Behold! Old Man got finished today within two intensive painting sessions. Got to say, one of my favourite projects I've carried through so far...

+Old Man Job +

In case you are wondering how I painted Old Man's cape, I adapted JRN's sponge technique, altering it a bit to suit in my style and then just let the beast take control... I was looking for certain effect for the cloth, something that would look like maggot and moth eaten sack with oil stains and dirt. Hope I made it there.

Next up is the crown of my INQ28 gang, Inquisitor Marius Cassar. I have to gather some spirit before I can even start to figure out what bits I will be using while creating him. I've already planned some pretty interesting techniques that I can't wait to apply in his case.....

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Today I like to talk little bit about the character designing. These are the observations that I have made during The Operation Punk Moth. Some of these thoughts have been crystalized in conversations with Kari over phone, but today I only talk about my Design philosophy and techniques.

While Kari always creates amazing artwork for his characters, and approaches his goal with very artistic painterly way (which i admire very much), my approach has always been more design orientated. I like to use more rougher style. Not trying to make eye candy but visual notes.

I am a designer with my heart and soul and with this =][= project I have tried different ways to design my characters. Let me explain:

Nicodemvs was a study to do things more GW style - I chose John Blanche's painting and designed my character based on that painting. Fun to do, and because of the John's amazing artwork you can't simply go wrong.

Then came Borvs, who was more "hands on" style - I wanted to carry on quickly with the project so no sketches just sculpting out of head. Im not completely happy with the result, although I did many breakthroughs with my sculpting techniques here. This way of designing things just wasn't my thing;)

With the Project Punk Moth the the character design has been somewhat problematic with both of us... We both create loads of ideas and concepts for new characters all the time, but witch characters to choose then? The warbands are quite small in the =][= game and we would like to create nice dynamics around the characters. So it is "Kill Yer Darlings" all the time. Many cool and wild concepts have been buried in the search for perfect balance and the RIGHT look.

When I started to design my third character for the warband, I imagined many crazy ideas for the character. Once again I phoned to Kari to explain my new plans (I phone Kari quite regullary;)
sometimes explaining your ideas to someone helps to clarify them. Sometimes Kari has something to ad there, sometimes he just advices to carry on. Somewhere between these phone calls and sketching an idea about Siamese Twins appeared.

This time I wanted to use Sketching in the designing process so I created number of sketches studying the pose and the details. After trying out different methods with the earlier characters I noticed, that sketching really is the best way for me to design my stuff. When I draw, I don't try to get the final look, I just try draw cool sketch. The final look of the miniature is created in the sculpting process - just like Jes Goodwin once said Miniature Is The King!

What Im trying to (clumsily) explain here is that feel free to try out different methods to create your miniatures or conversions. Don't restrict your self to just to kit bashing. Try out something that you have never tried before. This way you may even surprise yourself with the result ;)

Here they are. Conjoined twins that both seek the enemies of the humanity to destroy them with very varying techniques! The III member will be the loose cannon of this warband. The twins are constantly battling for the full control of the body to execute their plans. The other twin is strong guy who wants to crush his enemies in fierce melee, while the other twin is weaker and seeks to snipe the enemy with a sniper rifle. So the theme will be inner battle.

Im quite sure that they have some connection to Mars and to the Adeptus Mechanicus. Maybe some secret experiment of some sort, only the Machine God knows I guess.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

So I visited Berlin once again. A magnificent city with colourful history but also a place to find loads of interesting stuff. I went to Battlefield Berlin Megastore to search some tools & stuff - found some good shapers, box of ProCreate and a couple of these little display sockets for miniatures

(Maybe I could use these, when photographing my miniatures)

nothing too special here....

Until I spotted these!

"These are perfect for the Operation Punk Moth!, I thought when I saw these in the shop. Dice with Roman numerals the spirit of =][= is touchable here ;)

(I got four of these, so I could give two of them to Kari =)

I also went to Mauer Park's famous flea market to find the bizarre stuff. Every sunday Mauer Park turns into this gigantic outdoor flea market that covers the huge park area in middle of the city. I searched the market for many hours and I was tired and about to give up until then,

In the depths of the market it had waited me...

It is a mechanical watch, that can be hung from neck etc. I think I will turn this into a weird pocket watch, that I then carry when I wear my suit =)

The postman brought some new bits for me yesterday. I urged to tear the blister open and inspect what would I do with the parts. I have this habit of modelling my projects first with the blue tack so that I can get better picture of how the bits fit together...

Creepy Crypt Ghoul hands will nicely support Old Man's sneaky and chilly grin. Anti-grav chasis might be covered by purity seals or just one big scroll including maintenance instructions for the old machinery etc.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Making playable characters for tabletop wargaming has always been the ultimate goal in my projects. In the end, that philosophy is the inner being in all toy soldiers - they're ment to be standing on a battlefield, facing what ever your opponent throws at them, leaving their unfortuned lives in the hands of the dice gods...

It's no different in my INQ28 project, other than that this goal is now the ultimate target for both of our projects, mine and Mikko's. In a way, Mikko came and joined to my solo project, making some sence to it, co-piloting me to the right track. Our plan is simple - to play a scenario with our INQ28 bands...

Our aim is to make fully playable INQ28 mobs, which are well on their way at the momement. Not only that, but we are also going to be making perfect, module based battlefield for our gangs to face off. Finally, unbelievable detailed scenario with impressive collecion of props and gaming pieces that'll fit in the scene will be fulfilling the gaming experience. This four stage operation shall be codenamed as Punk Moth.

As said about the gangs, they're well on their way to be on "playable" state. In the end, you only need three to four members in your team to have enough complicated match of INQ28 (or at least that is what I've read). Of course we'll be reinforcing our gangs with new characters, but I guess we'll be ready with the first incarnations of our INQ28 gangs in a month of two. So the egg stage is nearing the finish...

The second stage, the caterpillar, is to build the perfect gaming board. Easier said than done, so to speak... As we live very far away from each other, we have to apply some imaginative solutions for how to build the board and how to organize the whole thing. We thought about making our board modular, both of us creating first one, later two pieces of around 50x50 cm board, which would then work as a bigger gaming board when put together. All the scenery will be attached to the boards so that there will be only minimal amount of loose scenery around, some targets and goals, for example. This way buildings, ruins, metal works, bunkers and explosion craters will look cool and support our cause of making great looking battlefield...

As the gaming board is modular, we'll still be able to make many different kind of wargrounds to play on. Here's a fast sketch of the idea in general...

We are thinking about building the scenery first from the scratch, adding all the pieces on it, prime them in gray and finally have a gathering where we'd decide the general atmosphere and the tone for the whole board. This way the look and the feel of each board will be special yet unite.

The modules should be enough light so that they are easy to move around, but also enough strong to handle carrying without any problem. The solution for this might be in 5mm foam PVC plate (colour: black) and on top of that, 50mm polyester plate that can be shaped. Polyester ain't very tough material alone, so basically it needs a hard surface on top of it. Maybe it should be coated with PVC glue or something similar to make the surface hard and durable.

So that's the harsh plan for the base of the modules at the moment. In my next post I'll shed light on some more detailed plans for the module based gaming board along with the final touches that'll make the gaming experience out of this world...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Old Man is starting to gain some shapes. Once again I used GW's Flagellant head to begin with, adding some spiky hair on his head, eye-balls and lips to bring the greedy grin on his face.

I'm thinking about using Cairn Wraith's robe for Old Man's body. Instead of having his legs covered by the robe, Old Man will levitate with an anti-grav chasis that replaces the lower part of his crippled body. With the anti-grav chasis, Old Man hoovers around battlefields like Orko of the Masters of the Universe, making dim humming sound with casual crackling arcs down to ground every now and then.

Friday, May 04, 2012

I was finally able to visualize the head of my Inquisitor gang. The man had been lurking in my head for a while, staying in the dark corners, avoiding my full attention.

Then couple of days ago it happened. I hit my head on a ceiling beam with the force that made my teeth hit together and curses flying between them. While I was treating the huge bump on my crown with a bag of frozen vegetables, the shape of my INQ28 band's master jumped out from his hiding place to my mental field of vision, clear as the sky. At that moment I knew what I had been looking for. I urged to draw the vision out of my head before it would be too late...

Inquisitor Marius Cassar (water colours, acrylics and inks)

Inquistor Cassar is one truely twisted being. In his nature he is egoistic and sardonic tyrant who achieves his goals with any means necessary - like most of his collegues. He is charismatic and knows how to manipulate people. He posseses dark powers that give him access to disturb thoughts and suffocate reasoning.

Cassar is armed with a high caliber service revolver and a chainsaw-rapier. He also has a customized bolt pistol with reversed mag mounted on his left shoulder. Cassar operates the shoulder cannon with sensors merged in to his spine's nervous system.

Officially Inquisitor Cassar serves the Inquisition, but as he is self-righteous bastard there's really no master for him other than himself. His blood is blue('ish) and ties to the high-ranking officials very strong. Some of his missions are funded by very powerful and influential persons with their own interests in the sad universe, interests which are usually less for the benefit of the Imperium.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

So yet another home is left behind, empty from my belongings. I'm a happy tenant of a single-family home with huge garden in a small town known Lapua. Extra space came to use as our previous apartment was getting very small. One of the best things about the new space is that I now have a room of my own dedicated for the hobby, yay!

Panorama view from the new lair of izeColt

Finnish "antique" from the 50's

The study is very cozy and relaxing space. It's a place where my creative horizon can spread like never before, providing great framework to leech energy from.

The desk is a product of Lahden Puukalusto Oy and it represents functionalism pretty well. It consists very, well, functional storing capacities. I say the desk is a product because it is a working class version of Bilnäs' expensive counterpart and nowhere as neat and slim. But it makes its stand pretty well and looks beutifully patinated.

The history of the desk is grim. In 1976 an explosion occured in a warehouse of Lapua ammunition factory (State Cartridge Factory),
killing 40 people, mainly female workers. Sixty children lost a parent
in this Finland's worst modern time disaster. The desk, as far as I've
been told, is a survivor from the accident. It was later sold in an auction to a former worker of the factory.

But now the desk has found a new home in my modest corner. It works as a focal point in my creative process, storing all my tools and paints within it just in a hands reach. The mechanics of the lock has a soul of its own and functions when it feels like doing so. It's pretty simple yet enough complex to keep my stuff safe and beyond the reach of the little gremlin.

I've already done some pretty interesting new creations in my new nest. I will be sharing them in next couple of days along with some amazing plans the rat pack will be doing in near future.